Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

Stephen Hough's new album 'Vida Breve' is a beautiful and thought-provoking meditation on death - and life - drawing on works by Busoni and Gounod (including their Bach arrangements), Chopin and Lizst - and even Hough himself. The pianist explores the programme with Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford, and you hear excerpts from the new album, which is released today on the Hyperion label.

The pianist Joseph Middleton has been busy in the studio and the past months have seen a number of albums released that find him alongside some great voices. It seemed a perfect opportunity for a chat, so James Jolly caught up with Joseph to talk about his role playing for singers, how he builds programmes, the changing landscape for song recitals and how the English have focused on the art of of the accompanist (a word they also discuss). The podcast contains excerpts from recent recordings featuring Carolyn Sampson, James Newby, Samuel Hasselhorn and Ashley Riches.

Nathalie Stutzmann releases a new Erato recording of Baroque arias written for her voice-type: 'Contralto'. Conducting her orchestra, Orfeo 55, she explores arias written for some of the star contraltos of the day by Handel, Vivaldi, Porpora, Gasparini and Caldara (including five world-premiere recordings). James Jolly spoke to Nathalie Stutzmann during rehearsals with Norway's Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra of which she is Chief Conductor; she's also recently been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Gramophone's 2020 Orchestra of the Year, the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Dame Evelyn Glennie talks to Editor Martin Cullingford about her latest recordings of new works for percussion, by composers Alexis Alrich, Sir Karl Jenkins, Ned Rorem and Christian Linberg. The first three are released next week on a new album from Naxos called Concertos for Mallet Instruments, while Lindberg's new work - called Liverpool Lullabies, a concertante work for percussion and trombone - appears on a new album out today from BIS.

January 5 sees Alfred Brendel turn 90 and he graciously agreed to speak to us for a Gramophone podcast and answer a few questions ... Alfred Brendel had a long performing career – he gave his first recital in Graz, Austria when he was 17, in 1948, and his last concert 60 years later, in Vienna in December 2008. Early in his career he recorded for Vox, for whom he made many records of Beethoven's music including the sonatas and concertos, as well as much other solo piano music. Since 1970 he recorded for Philips with whom he remained until the label was merged with Decca. His repertoire for Philips focused on the Austro-German repertoire and his recordings embraced the complete Mozart piano concertos, the Beethoven piano sonatas and concertos twice, as well as concertos and solos works by Schumann, Brahms and Liszt, and many of Schubert's piano sonatas.

Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has carved out a considerable reputation for its championing of modern American music, and its latest release is one of its most ambitious, a recording of Charles Wuorinen's 2004 opera, based on Salman Rushdie's novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories, to a libretto by Jame Fenton. James Jolly spoke to Gil Rose, BMOP's Artistic Director about the orchestra and its label, but also about this latest project. And Gil also reveals some of the recording projects awaiting us in 2021.

As Gramophone publishes its annual digital magazine round up of Editor's Choice releases – 130 recordings in all – the magazine's Editor, Reviews Editor and Editor-in-Chief each select three albums that have made a big impact on them over the past 12 months. From solo guitar to two major 20th-century operas, the selection is broad, and celebrates some of the finest music-making of today from the likes of Víkingur Ólafsson, Sean Shibe, Marc-André Hamelin, Paavo Järvi, Edward Gardner, Natalya Romaniw and many more ...

On this week's Gramophone podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by the founder and Music Director of the Crouch End Festival Chorus, David Temple, to explore the music of Benjamin Britten. His new album, released on the Signum Classics label, features Saint Nicolas and A Ceremony of Carols, both early works from the composer. What made Britten such an extraordinary composer for voices, and what role did his belief in community music play in his work?

Christian-Pierre La Marca releases the first of five albums for Naïve, and it focuses on the solo cello. 'Cello 360' brings together music by Marin Marais, Dowland and Purcell alongside modern masters like Thierry Escaich, György Ligeti and Henri Dutilleux, as well as lighter fare by Charlie Chaplin and The Beatles. Gramophone's James Jolly caught up with Christian-Pierre by video call at his house in Paris to talk about the project and how he assembled such an eclectic programme for this imaginative concept album.

To mark the release of his new album on Orchid Classics, composer and clarinettist Mark Simpson joins the Gramophone podcast to explore its captivating - and interlinked - mixture of old and new repertoire. Opening with a wonderfully textured work by Simpson himself, Geysir, it then continues with Mozart's Gran Partita.

The Eloquence label issued its first 25 titles exactly 21 years ago, a project conceived, and looked after ever since, by Cyrus Meher-Homji. James Jolly spoke to him about the label, how it came about and how it has changed over its first two decades. And Cyrus also reveals some of the releases scheduled for the coming months, including box sets devoted to the pianist Ruth Slenczynska and the organist Gillian Weir.

Following his Gramophone Award short-listed recording of Charles Valentin Alkan's Symphony and Concerto for solo piano (BIS), Paul Wee takes on another challenging work of the piano literature, Sigismond Thalberg's L'Art du chant appliqué au piano. Gramophone's Reviews Editor, Tim Parry – himself a pianophile – talked to Paul about the recording, Thalberg's piano music and how he balances his piano playing with his 'day job'.

'Mythologies', just out on Avie, contains five orchestral works by Anna Clyne covering a period of 10 years. James Jolly caught up with the New York-based composer at her home in New York to talk about the collection, her various roles as composer-in-residence, and where she looks for inspiration when responding to a commission.

On this week's Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford spoke to Anna Lapwood, Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge. They discuss what life is like for the college's choirs - both the Chapel Choir, and the Girls' Choir which Lapwood founded in 2018 - and explore their beautiful new album released on Signum Classics, 'All Things Are Quite Silent'.

In this week's Gramophone Podcast Richard Egarr tells James Jolly about his new recording of Dussek's Messe Solemnelle with the Academy of Ancient Music on the orchestra's own label.

The French conductor Alexandre Bloch was appointed Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lille in 2016 and has made a huge impact on the musical making in the city. Two of his recordings with the orchestra – Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles (for Pentatone) and Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer, with Véronique Gens, and the Symphony (Alpha Classics) – were shortlisted for the Gramophone Classical Music Awards. And such has been the acclaim of the Bloch/ONL partnership that the orchestra was also shortlisted for this year's Orchestra of the Year Award. The latest release from this dynamic partnership is Mahler's Seventh Symphony, just out from Alpha Classics. James Jolly met up with Alexandre Bloch earlier his year when the conductor was in London on a short UK tour with the Lille orchestra. They talked about Mahler and also about the Lille orchestra which is really beginning to attract major attention.

A special Gramophone Podcast devoted to this year's Awards - join us as we discuss the winners of this year's Artist of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Label of the Year, Young Artist, Orchestra of the Year, Special Achievement, Concept Album and Beethoven 250 awards - plus we hear from the winner of this year's Recording of the Year!

For her first solo album, 'Anima Rara', for Opera Rara, for whom she's already recorded Leoncavallo's Zazà and Puccini's Le Willis, Ermonela Jaho celebrates one of her great soprano predecessors, Rosina Storchio. Joined by the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana conducted by Andrea Battistoni, Jaho offers a programme of verismo arias, some familiar but many less so. James Jolly met Ermonela Jaho early this year – face to face – while she was in London for a Wigmore Hall recital, and they talked about Storchio, the new album and both Puccini and Leoncavallo's takes on La bohème.

In this edition of the Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford meets Joseph Calleja to talk about a really fascinating and very personal project - a celebration of the music of the conductor Mantovani, Britain's most successful album artist before the Beatles and the first to ever sell a million stereo records worldwide. On his new album for Decca, the tenor sings to Mantovani's historic and much-loved recordings - he explains how this project came about, and how they made it work.

The 10 recording category winners have been announced, and the countdown to the naming of the 2020 Gramophone Recording of the Year has begun. All with be revealed during the evening of October 6 at a special online ceremony from Glyndebourne hosted by Gramophone's James Jolly and the mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey. (Watch it on Gramophone's website, Facebook and YouTube channels and on Medici.TV.) To accompany the revealing of the 10 recording category winners, James Jolly was joined by Gramophone's Editor, Martin Cullingford, and Gramophone's Reviews Editor, Tim Parry, to talk through the winning albums, an inspiring mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar - everything linked by the excellence of its performance.

Saxophonist Jess Gillam joins Editor Martin Cullingford to explore some of the themes behind her new album, Time, a very personal project for her. Featuring music and arrangements by composers including Michael Nyman, Max Richter, Thom Yorke and Joby Talbot, it's released on September 25 on Decca.

Editor Martin Cullingford talks to organist Stephen Farr about recording the complete solo organ music of James MacMillan. The album is out on the Resonus label, and in this podcast Farr sets the music in the wider context of MacMillan's work, and discusses the music's challenges and what makes it so distinct and enjoyable.

On this week's Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford talks to Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Principal Conductor Designate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, about his first recording with the orchestra, excerpts from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, which is available now on Signum Classics.

Eric Whitacre's latest work, for chorus, piano and cello, The Sacred Veil, was commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale who give the first performance at Walt Disney Hall in February 2019. With Whitacre himself conducting, The Sacred Veil has been recorded by those first performers, and the album is now available from Signum Classics. Set to words largely by the poet Anthony Silvestri, The Sacred Veil, takes as its theme the death, from ovarian cancer, in 2005, of Silvestri's wife Julie, who was only 36. James Jolly spoke to Eric Whitacre about the work, and how it came into being, for this Gramophone Podcast.

Keen to play her part in supporting the women and children suffering abuse and hardship in her native Mexico – a situation greatly worsened during the pandemic – the conductor Alondra de la Parra has created The Impossible Orchestra. Comprised of a stellar line-up of artists from 14 different countries – both orchestral players and soloists – The Impossible Orchestra has recorded, for video as well as audio, Arturo Márquez's much-loved Danzón No 2 in an arrangement by de la Parra (who plays the piano in this performance). She speaks to James Jolly about the project and how she aims to support two major charities in Mexico.

Robin Ticciati, Music Director of the DSO Berlin, has just released an album that couples two tone-poems, Don Juan and Tod und Verklärung with the six songs, Op 68, often called the Brentano songs, sung by Louise Alder. As Ticciati rehearsed at Glyndebourne for the much reduced 2020 season, James Jolly caught up with him to talk about the new album.

Editor Martin Cullingford talks to guitarist Xuefei Yang about her new album Sketches of China, a beautiful celebration of music from her homeland and featuring contemporary commissions and arrangements of ancient pieces. Featuring excerpts from the album, released by Decca Classics China.

In the latest Gramophone podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford talks to Max Richter about the composer's new album Voices, a powerful and poetic musical response to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, released today on Decca Records.

In the latest Gramophone podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by conductor David Skinner to discuss the new release by Alamire of the music of John Sheppard. Based on new research, the Gramophone Award-Winning vocal ensemble have recorded a version of the Tudor composer's masterpiece Media vita in morte sumus which, they argue, is how it would have originally been heard. The recording - a digital EP - is available now on Inventa Records.

Gramophone has been making an Orchestra of the Year Award since 2018 when it was given to the Seattle Symphony (last year the Award went to the Hong Kong Philharmonic). This year the voting is open and we offer ten ensembles for you to consider. Each has struck us for the dynamism, imagination and style of its collaborations with its conductors on record. This week Gramophone's Editor-in-Chief James Jolly is joined by Gramophone critic and broadcaster Rob Cowan to discuss the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Lille. Listen to each of the orchestra's exclusive playlist on Gramophone's curator page at Apple Music, as well as a dynamic playlist embracing all 10 ensembles (which is regularly updated). Then, when you are ready, head off to vote at gramophone.co.uk

Gramophone has been making an Orchestra of the Year Award since 2018 when it was given to the Seattle Symphony (last year the Award went to the Hong Kong Philharmonic). This year the voting is open and we offer ten ensembles for your to consider. Each has struck us for the dynamism, imagination and style of their collaborations with their conductors on record. In this, the first of two podcasts, Gramophone's Editor-in-Chief James Jolly talks to Gramophone critic, Andrew Mellor, about five of the ensembles: the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo and MusicAeterna.

In this week's Gramophone Podcast, Editor Martin Cullingford speaks to the Artistic Director of Voces8 about their fascinating new album 'After Silence' - it's out on July 24, but several sections are already available to stream online - and about the forthcoming online choral festival from the Voces8 Foundation, Live from London, of which Gramophone is a media partner.

The cellist Inbal Segev has just released an album of cello concertos by Anna Clyne, DANCE, and Sir Edward Elgar. Her partners on this Avie release are the London Philharmonic and Marin Alsop. James Jolly caught up with them – Inbal in New York and Marin in Baltimore – to talk about the album, how the Anna Clyne piece came about and what makes them fit so well together on the same album.

Beethoven's violin sonatas sit at the heart of the repertoire for violin and piano. As Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins embark on a complete cycle for Signum Classics - starting with Nos 1, 5 & 8 - they join Editor Martin Cullingford in this week's Gramophone Podcast to explore what the music means for performer and listener alike.

The broadcaster, critic, composer and author Stephen Johnson has recently published a new study of Mahler's Symphony No 8 – The Eighth: Mahler and the World in 1910. James Jolly spoke to him about the book: why Mahler's Eighth and the extraordinary story of its 1910 Munich premiere. The Eighth: Mahler and the World in 1910 is published by Faber & Faber (hardback: £18.99 & ebook: £14.99). The musical excerpts come from Lorin Maazel's third (!) recording of the work, one captured live with the Philharmonia Orchestra, five choruses and nine soloists, and available from Signum Classics.

The conductor of Aurora Orchestra, Nicholas Collon, talks to James Jolly about their brand-new DG release, 'Music of the Spheres'. It links themed-music that takes in Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, Thomas Adès's violin concerto, Concentric Paths (played by Pekka Kuusisto), a Dowland song arranged by Nico Muhly, 'Time stands still', Max Richter's Journey (CP1919) and David Bowie's song 'Life on Mars' (in an arrangement by John Barber and sung by Sam Swallow).

This week's guest is the conductor Robert Trevino, who today has released a set of the complete Beethoven symphonies with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, on the Ondine label - recorded in order, over a two-week period. He tells Editor Martin Cullingford about his personal and musical approach to these iconic orchestral works.

Martin Fröst has just released a new album for Sony Classical entitled 'Vivaldi'. On it he plays a handful of Vivaldi 'clarinet concertos', works created with the assistance of the composer and arranger Andreas Tarkmann from arias drawn from the composers operas. James Jolly spoke to Fröst at his home in Stockholm about the project and the challenges of performing at an unusual pitch and working with the period-instrument ensemble Concerto Köln.

Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by guitarist Sharon Isbin to discuss her two new albums, both out today on Zoho. The first, Affinity, features four world premiere recordings by Chris Brubeck, Leo Brouwer, Tan dun, and Richard Danielpour. The second, Strings for Peace, offers a journey through the ragas and talas of North Indian classical music.

Gabriel Prokofiev has just released a Signum Classics album of two of his concertos: his Concerto for Turntables No 1 and his Cello Concerto. James Jolly talked to the composer about the release and why the concerto as form appeals so strongly to him. The new recording features the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alexey Bogorad with Mr Switch on turntables and Boris Andrianov the cellist.

Purcell's The Fairy Queen, music originally written for an adaption of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, features music of delightful theatricality and some of the composer's most beautiful songs. Paul McCreesh, founder and Artistic Director of the Gabrieli Consort and Players, has recorded the work for his latest release on the group's Winged Lion label. For this week's podcast the conductor joins Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford to discuss the work, and his approach to capturing and conveying its 17th-century spirit and splendour.

The Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw, who has received terrific reviews of her stage performances in the Russian operatic repertoire (particularly as Tchaikovsky's Tatyana in Eugene Onegin), releases her first solo album, for Orchid Classics. Joined by her teacher from the Guildhall School of Music, the pianist Lada Valešová, they present 'Arion: Voyage of a Slavic Soul', songs by three Russians – Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov – and three Czech composers – Dvořák, Janáček and Novák. James Jolly, in Gloucestershire, caught up simultaneously with Natalya in Swansea and Lada in London to talk about the repertoire, the programme and how they started working together.

As Onyx releases a fourth album of music by Elgar with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko, including the vocal works Sea Pictures and The Music Makers, James Jolly met the Russian conductor.

Sarah Traubel makes her recorded debut for Sony Classical with an album entitled 'Arias for Josepha', the soprano who created the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte ('The Magic Flute'). She's joined on the recording by the Prague Philharmonia conducted by Jochen Rieder and it's now available digitally. In this latest Gramophone Podcast, Sarah Traubel talked to James Jolly about the programme and the various composers who write arias for Josepha, how she fills her time under lockdown and her two illustrious relatives.

The Sitkovetsky Trio – Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Wu Qian (piano) and Isang Enders (cello) – has launched a series for BIS focusing on Beethoven's music for piano trio and Vol 1 is just out. It contains Op 1 No 3 and Op 70 No 2 with the small B flat Trio, WoO39 tucked in between them. James Jolly caught up with husband-and-wife Alexander Sitkovetsky and Wu Qian to find out about how the Trio was formed, how they're approaching this Beethoven series and how they're filling their time now that they're under lockdown in their house in London.

Editor Martin Cullingford is joined by sopranos Julia Doyle and Grace Davidson to talk about their new recording of music for Tenebrae, Couperin's Leçons de Ténèbres and Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday. The album, featuring the choir Tenebrae under the direction of Nigel Short, is available now on Signum Classics.

Released today by Alpha Classics, 'La Passione' combines Luigi Nono's Djamila Boupacha for solo soprano, Haydn's Symphony No 49 (sometimes called La Passione) and Gérard Grisey's Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil. Ludwig Orchestra is conducted by Barbara Hannigan who also sings in the two modern works. James Jolly spoke to Hannigan, down the line, to find out about how she put the album together.

Jack Liebeck today releases a new recording on Orchid Classics, coupling the violin concertos by Brahms and Schoenberg, both works which have strong personal connections. He's joined on the new album by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Gourlay. Jack talks to James Jolly about why he put the two works together, how he sees their relationship and the challenges of learning and playing the Schoenberg concerto.

Gramophone is excited to announce the publication of its digital special: Ballet on Screen. With nearly 20 reviews of ballet DVDs released in the past year, written by the world's best dance writers, this digital special is free to view. The special's editor Sarah Kirkup talks to Gramophone's editor Martin Cullingford about the magazine's contents, including its two features, one exploring Margot Fonteyn's legacy on film, the other investigating the surging popularity of ballet in the cinema.

The violinist Johannes Pramsohler has recorded an album of sonatas by Pieter Hellendaal who studied in Italy and moved to England in the middle of the 18th century and worked as violinist, composer and teacher, spending the last couple of decades of his life in Cambridge. Pramsohler and his musical partners Gulrim Choï and Philippe Grisvard have recorded six of Hellendaal's 'Cambridge Sonatas' for Audax, an album released on March 6. Pramsohler talks to Gramophone's James Jolly about the composer and his music.